Sorry, Carolina Panthers, but there appears to be another play to add to the “What could have been” folder of Super Bowl 50.
Former cornerback Robert McClain joined his old Panthers teammates Charles Tillman and Roman Harper on a recent episode of the NFL Players Second Act podcast. All three (now-retired) defensive backs were members of Carolina’s NFC championship-winning team in 2015—so, naturally, the topic of Super Bowl 50 came up.
And if you’re still, almost a decade later, sick over the painful defeat to the Denver Broncos, then you may want to have a vomit bag handy for what McClain told Tillman and Harper . . .
Robert McClain believes one hand could have changed the entire trajectory of Super Bowl 50.
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McClain, a seventh-round pick of the Panthers from the 2010 draft, didn’t join that year’s squad until mid-December. He’d quickly take over starting duties across from Josh Norman following the season-ending injury to Tillman, who tore his ACL just before the playoffs began.
Those duties, of course, spanned into Super Bowl 50—where he could’ve etched his name into franchise lore on that gimme from Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. But unfortunately, that play can just get filed away somewhere next to Jerricho Cotchery’s non-catch and Cam Newton’s non-recovery.
